A lady was brought to the ER by her friends, they claimed she had been stooling all day. They said she had only eaten at a popular restaurant that morning and started stooling and became weak so they had to bring her that night.
She couldn't walk and had to be brought in a stretcher from the car into the ER.
She was extremely weak, lethargic and pale. Her eyes were sunken, lips dry and skin slightly wrinkled. We took it as a case of food poisoning and dehydration.
Her blood pressure was low and her pulse was weak. Her breathing was shallow too. She had blood samples take from her for series of tests including electrolyte count tests. She was quickly bombarded with IV fluids to rehydrate her, increase her blood volume and blood pressure. She also had medications to stop the stooling and some broad spectrum antibiotics while we waited for the test results.
The result came out and as we expected, she had severe bacterial and viral infection. Her white blood cell count was high. We took it as a case of food poisoning. Her electrolyte count wasn't looking good. The sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, phosphate and carbonate levels were all abnormal. She was talking irrationally too. Her friends were asked of what she ate because they lived together and they said salad and milkshake. My guess was that the salad or milkshake wasn't well made or something was spoilt and the restaurant still added it to the menu all the same. .
We continued rehydrating her with IV fluids and she had strong antibiotics too. We ensured the IV fluids had the electrolytes that she lost when stooling. We had to use adult pampers and underlay for her as she kept soiling the bedsheets. After a few hours, the stooling stopped and she gradually got better.
Food poisoning could be mild or severe. its a disease that usually results in vomiting and diarrhea after a person eats or drinks fluids contaminated with certain bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemicals (toxins).
The most common symptoms and signs of food poisoning are vomiting and diarrhea.
Also, we should pay close attention to the environment when we eat in restaurants. Some of you engage in conversations with the person dishing the food who has to reply you. The air and droplets from the person's mouth settles on the food you are buying to eat. what if the person has TB(tuberculosis)? Do you know you could get it too? you're supposed to tell the person all you want before being served. Asides what we eat, we should be careful when we are in public places.
A lot of us touch money, shakes hands, buy things, hold public doors without washing hands after. How many of you wash your hands when you get back home from the market or anywhere else?. Its very important to maintain good hygiene in order not to fall ill. Prevention is better than cure. Asides that, ladies go to the salon to make their hair and would never ask if the needle the stylist is using is new.
Some of them would want to save money and reuse needles.
Better still, buy your own needles. No wonder the statistics of HIV is high in Nigeria. Same applies to barbing salons. You should be very conscious of your health.
Just like my days in Emergency, Sat. and sunday morning are usually so busy. Undergraduate girls coming in and defecating from the car through the corridors to the ER. They attended night parties and clubs and ate "shawamah". I don't know why Nigerians will always imitate oyibos wey get a good cold chain system of preservation. You eat chicken and vegetables where NEPA dey rule?
ReplyDeleteI am addicted to washing my hands. It's something I do subconsciously atimes. Nice one
ReplyDeleteWhich "milk shake and salad?"
ReplyDeleteNa ugba and zobo wey don age.
Nigerian ladies always wanting to appear foreign.
You dey drink milk shake for harmattan when the whole nation is on blackout?
Alright, thanks for your concern
ReplyDelete*Larry was here*
Wow this is so true... Na God go save us from all we eat at home or restaurants or elsewhere
ReplyDeleteEveryOne should cultivate the habit of always having sanitizer close by.
ReplyDeleteYou're right.
DeleteMine goes everywhere with me.
Wow thankGod she got better oo..
ReplyDeleteMy own level of hand Washing has turned to obsession. I always make sure I washes my hands after touching anything thing or shaking hands... Am also very careful of what I eat and where I eat too. Once I sight anything funny in a restaurant am out..my friends calls it madness I don't careeeee..provided I don't contact feaco-oral disease.
ReplyDeleteAnakogheri
Delete"I always make sure I washes" (sic)
DeleteI WASH my hands off you!
It is not just obsessive compulsive disorder, it is probably what your friends called it.
Please remove that "Intelligentsia" from your name because that fit into "delusion of grandeur" which is the cardinal symptom in the diagnosis of what will keep you in "somewhere" you won't like for a very long time.
Na wa. It's only God that saves us, cos we live in an environment full of this pathogenic bacteria and viruses.
ReplyDeleteEven if we were careful at home with our meals and water we take... What of the market situation.
The woman that cuts water melon for you. How clean is the water "pathogenically". The fruit salads we eat in the office or in the restaurant nko. The boiled corns we eat on the go? The kwili kwili? Suya? et al.,
A lot of these ready to eat foods are mostly not safe.
Some people have strong immune system tho, but It's only God that saves us...Because everyday we use our teeth to dig our grave.
Thanks for this piece
ReplyDeleteEspecially that needle, I don't joke with it
If you don't have a new needle, I won't fix be that ooo or I go with mine
Something must kill a man. Loool
ReplyDeleteThe things ppl should keep away from especially when they do not know the establishment are creamy foods, potato salads, coleslaw, ice cream and all dairy, salad dressing and other creamy sauces, with lack of good and steady power supply I would not eat these things that demand to be stored in cold temperatures constantly. Eating roast yam or plantains may be safer than eating in some of these restaurants. Canned foods can also be highly toxic if the can is dented or expired. Anything from a can must be taken out of the can immediately after opening, do not eat directly from the can. Things like vegetables that were farmed with the use of manure can cause ecoli poisoning, best to eat veggies that need to be cooked, salads are notorious for causing illness. Cooked is always better than raw when you are eating out, but nothing is 100% safe, not even in your own home.
ReplyDeleteSome people are so fast and rushing to put something in their mouth without taking a careful look at the surrounding, may God help us .
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOnly God can protect, but we should try our best...
ReplyDeleteTimely post.
ReplyDeleteOn my way to church this morning, I saw one Hausa guy sorting carrots into nylons.
Don't know wetin carry my eye go there sef, but dude was putting them into nylons, wiping his nose with the same hand, cleaning it on his dirty shirt, then back touching them carrots.
I almost made a permanent decision to stay away from carrots.
If you see the way foodstuff is handled in Nigeria, you won't eat.
But last last, it's God who saves.
Sadly it's not just washing hands etc. We have a lot of outdoor foods on sale eg roasted corn, plantain, ube, etc. Imagine the man/woman who has just used his her hands to wash buttocks with left over feaces under the finger nails proding and selecting different pieces of out door food before eventually buying one.
ReplyDeleteEven the person selling, how clean are they? Those on the highway,roads selling where do they unrinate/defecate? I once saw a suya man leaving his suya stand to go piss. He will still bring his piss/sweat stained fingers to cut meat for you and you will chew happily.
People are just too filthly here. Just too filthy.